


I Quite Like Flowers, and You

by brewcha



Series: Coffee. Flowers. Love. [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, M/M, florist!sousuke, lovestruck!rin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 23:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2001747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brewcha/pseuds/brewcha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It only <i>just</i> so happened that the flower shop was on the street that was a ten-minute walk from Rin’s university campus, and every now and then he would find himself taking the extra minutes during his morning jog, or when he went out to meet up with his friends or sister. It was really <i>not</i> on purpose. </p><p>[ In which Sousuke is a drop-dead gorgeous guy working in a flower shop, and Rin can't get over himself. ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Quite Like Flowers, and You

**Author's Note:**

> A thing based off [paradigmation's SouRin florist au thing](http://paradigmation.tumblr.com/post/92517332722/au-where-sousuke-is-a-florist-because-why-the-hell). I was originally planning just a short drabble to reblog it with but then it got long, ay.
> 
> (There was no beta involved and written mostly in one seating, so I apologize for any mistakes! Everything is from Rin's POV.)

It was impossible to iterate how gorgeous he was.

It was also impossible the number of times Rin found himself hanging around outside the flower shop, staring at said Mr. Gorgeous.

Rin was not the type for flowers, and he would never had noticed much of the flower shop’s existence if it had not been about a month ago when he had gone to buy flowers for his mother’s birthday. A tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired florist (the Mr. Gorgeous) had picked out the assortment of lilies and carnations, and artfully arranged them into a bouquet with hands that one would not imagine belonging in the botany trade.

 _Yamazaki_ , was the name given on the employee badge, and Rin had since found himself passing by the flower shop every so often.

Not like it was really on purpose or anything: it only _just_ so happened that the flower shop was on the street that was a ten-minute walk from Rin’s university campus, and every now and then he would find himself taking the extra minutes during his morning jog, or when he went out to meet up with his friends or sister. It was _really_ not on purpose.

The flower shop was a shocking display of bright colours – from the light pink interior to the admittedly fantastic flower arrangements of yellows and purples and blues and whites and, dare I say it, pink. The employees of the shop were predominantly bright-eyed part-timers or friendly middle-aged ladies who often chatted with the customers.

Tall (gigantic, even) and _dead-set gorgeous_ Yamazaki stood out like a sore thumb, his expression somehow stuck on a perpetual blank glare that made Rin think of Haru’s perpetual blank stare.

But it wasn’t perpetual: Rin had seen it himself. Just like how that idiot Nanase offered the smallest of smiles to certain people, Yamazaki had smiled the smallest of smiles whilst neatly sorting out the flowers – except he did it in the most offhanded way that Rin swore ought to be illegal.

 

.  
.

 

_“What are these for?”_

_Rin blinked, not realizing he was staring at the way Yamazaki’s dark hair barely dusted over his forehead and completely tuning out external voices. When he did, he blushed ten shades of red and coughed. “Mom’s birthday—I mean, my, um, my mom’s birthday.”_

_He tried to look at Yamazaki directly, but Yamazaki’s gaze – a deep teal – was looking straight at him. If Rin blushed any harder he was sure he would melt into the atrociously pink background of the shop._

_Yamazaki nodded, dropping his gaze back towards the flowers. “That’s nice,” He commented briefly, turning to reach for a pair of scissors, giving Rin a sideways glance and a sideways smile._

_Rin felt his heart skip a beat. He was a complete goner._

  
.  
.

 

Yamazaki was in the flower shop now, talking to a customer – an old lady with a purse shaped like a cat. As Rin watched, Yamazaki nodded at something the old lady said, before shaking his head in between smiles while the old lady chuckled at him.

Rin couldn’t see it very well from where he was standing (outside the shop like a stalker, which he was _not_ ), and with Yamazaki turned slightly away from the shop window. But Rin could see the way the corners of his eyes softened when he smiled, or when he addressed a customer; it was like the intimidating aura that came with Yamazaki’s tall and broad appearance, and his seemingly default expression (kind-of-but-not-really perpetual blank glare), completely melted away each time he smiled.

OK, maybe Rin did pass by the flower shop on purpose. And actually dropped in a few times (Gou’s initial happiness at her older brother’s sudden gifts had diminished into a playful suspicion, but thankfully had not pried much.)

  
.  
.

 

_“You’re pretty regular these days, aren’t you?” Yamazaki asked, carefully picking out a few stalks of tulips from the display and sliding behind the counter._

_“They’re for my sister.” Rin responded abruptly. When Yamazaki cocked his brow questioningly, Rin stumbled to continue, “I mean, again. I thought it’d be nice—I haven’t talked to her much.”_

_“Mhmhm,” Yamazaki nodded, his lips quirking into a smile, his gaze lingering a moment longer than normal on Rin before reaching for a plastic sheet to wrap the flower stems with. Rin decided not to wonder whether or not he was convinced._

_“What’s your name?” Rin was caught completely off-guard._

_“What?”_

_Yamazaki had finished with the tulips and was now looking at Rin, his deep teal eyes unreadable. “Your name.”_

_“Rin. Matsuoka. Matsuoka Rin. Sorry, I uh,” Rin reached for his wallet to pay as he stepped closer to retrieve the flowers._

_“Matsuoka Rin,” Rin tried not to stare, but stare he did, at the way Yamazaki’s lips carefully formed the syllables of his name, as if he didn’t want to get it wrong. As if his name was something special._

_Rin coughed, self-consciously running a thumb along his bottom lip. “What about you?”_

_Yamazaki’s eyes flickered in surprise. “Me?”_

_“Your name.” Rin smirked a little, feeling his heart bump against his chest at Yamazaki’s response. Yamazaki chuckled._

_“Sousuke,” Yamazaki’s voice was deep – sort of a rough voice but gentle underneath, if that made any sense. His eyes were similar – sharp but soft. He handed the flowers over to Rin. “Yamazaki Sousuke. I’ll see you again, then?”_

_Yamazaki had smiled another sideways, casual, offhanded smile just as Rin turned to leave, but this time it came along with something else. A kind of hope._

  
.  
.

 

“I’m an idiot.” Rin mumbled to himself, moving away from the window and reaching for the shop entrance. A bell hung on the doorway, and it made a loud jangling sound as Rin pushed open the door to enter.

Yamazaki was still speaking to the old lady, but his gaze flickered up just for a brief moment at the sound of the bell. Rin didn’t dare to hope that the small smile along with the subtle nod of recognition was for him – but he hoped anyway, and lifted a hand in greeting.

“—and that’s how they met! So I was wondering what flowers you think I should give to them as congratulations…” The old lady continued talking and Rin turned away to stare at the picturesque display of blue hyacinths, idly wondering whether or not to suggest Makoto to get them for Haru.

As if the flowers were more interesting to look at than the way Yamazaki’s profile sloped down from his shoulders to his waist as he leaned over the counter to talk to the old lady, the way his eyes caught the light in the shop when he had raised his head earlier on.

“…it just seems like roses are a bit _tacky_ don’t you? And my daughter is allergic to…” Rin couldn’t imagine how Yamazaki was handling the relentless but blameless chatter from the old lady, but the responses Rin overheard him make were impossibly patient and constructive. It wasn’t the first time Rin had seen him handle a customer with incredible amounts genuine kindness that made Rin wonder if Yamazaki belonged to an alternate universe made up of angels and kittens, like Makoto.

Politely shaking his head when an employee ventured to ask him if he needed anything, Rin continued to look at the flower displays as if he actually had something to do at the shop. If it was just another hopeful-chance-encounter with the Gorgeous-and-Saintly Yamazaki, surely Rin could just decide to leave and save it for another day.

But no, Rin was looking at the flower displays as if he had something to do because he actually did have something to do. He didn’t spend thirty minutes deliberating on which pair of pants to wear earlier that day just to casually drop by.

The bell jangled loudly again but Rin was too distracted to notice. He was moving on to look at a pot of gloxinias when he heard Yamazaki speak from behind him.

“Were you looking for something?” Rin spun around to see Yamazaki leaning over the counter with a cluster of daisies in his hands, just a few paces from him. His gaze was unreadable and his lips were quirked into a half-smile, as if he had been watching Rin this whole time.

“Uh. No, not really.” Rin rubbed the back of his neck as he walked over to him. He was sure he was blushing from his neck up to the tips of his ears, and under Yamazaki’s clear teal-blue gaze it felt like diving into a pool under the summer sun.

“Really? You were looking at the flowers for quite a while,” Yamazaki continued to smile, his casual half-smile blooming into a warm grin. “Do you need anything?”

Rin didn’t reply immediately, coughing into his hand awkwardly as he leaned against the counter, watching Yamazaki snip at the stems of the white daisies. His hands were big and rough-looking, yet held the flowers and the scissors expertly and carefully.

Yamazaki didn’t look at all like someone who would fumble or stumble. He seemed to know what he was doing as he sorted out the flowers, the same way he must’ve known what he was doing every time he threw a casual smile at Rin.

Rin inhaled.

“Want to go out sometime?”

Yamazaki paused and looked at Rin, who in turn self-consciously brushed the hair off his flushed face whilst trying to keep a straight expression. Rin was blushing, he was blushing real hard and he didn’t even have to look at his reflection to tell.

Instead he was looking at the lines against Yamazaki’s jaw, the collarbone against his form-fitting shirt under his employee apron, and then back into the pair of eyes that no flower in the shop could possibly match in its colour.

(Yamazaki Sousuke was _really_ gorgeous.)

A moment longer and Rin might have blew himself off with some stupid excuse, but a moment later Yamazaki was chuckling, the corners of his eyes crinkling as his amused teasing glint dissipated into something warm and soft.

“I was thinking you were never going to ask.” Yamazaki twirled one of the daisies he was holding between his fingers.

Relief was instant, followed by delight and then an embarrassing realization. “I—wait, I wasn’t that obvious—or was I? Ya…Yamazaki?” Rin blinked, flustered.

Yamazaki smiled.

“Call me Sousuke,” He leaned over the counter, casually tucking the daisy over Rin’s ear as if it was no big deal, his fingers brushing over Rin’s cheek and igniting sparks, over Rin's skin and in his beating heart. “You look good.”

**Author's Note:**

> Side note: blue hyacinths = constancy; gloxinias = love at first sight; daisies = innocence (love). It's stuff I googled, so they may not be 100% accurate.
> 
> I usually don't write fanfiction until after a series/season ends so to get a better grasp of a character, but I couldn't resist SouRin. I got stuck halfway through and redid parts of it several times, but anyways, I'm pretty happy more or less with the result.
> 
> I hope you liked it, thanks for reading!


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